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The Rhineland Sights

Kiedrich

Town/Village

Published 04/24/2016

Fodor's Review

For a good look at the central Rheingau, make a brief circular tour from Eltville. Drive 3 km (2 miles) north via the Kiedricher Strasse to the Gothic village of Kiedrich. In the distance you can see the tower of Scharfenstein Castle (built in 1215) and the spires of St. Valentine's Basilica and St. Michael's Chapel, both from the 15th century. If you attend the basilica's 9:30 am mass on Sunday, you can admire the splendid Gothic furnishings and star vaulting to the sounds of Gregorian chants and one of Germany's oldest organs, and public tours of the church begin just after every mass. The chapel next door, once a charnel house (a building near a cemetery used for storing dug-up bones), has a unique chandelier sculpted around a nearly life-size, two-sided Madonna. These Gothic gems have survived intact thanks to 19th-century restorations sponsored by the English baronet John Sutton.